Justice

My personal definition of Justice, simply speaking, is doing what is right. There are situations that will inevitably occur, and the way we react to the circumstances will either be just or unjust; right or wrong. There is more times than not, a strictly morally right or wrong thing to do. Take for example Shakespeare’s “King Lear” : Conspiring against your half brother and father to make each of them believe that one wants to kill the other, for the sole purpose of gaining societal rank and power, is the wrong thing to do. In Shakespeare’s play, this is exactly what the character Edmund does to his brother Edgar and his father Gloucester. Now look at a completely different situation: You are out in public and you see a stranger unknowingly and accidentally drop five dollars on the ground. You pick up the five bucks and say “hello sir, you dropped this” and you give it back to them. This is the right thing to do. There are no blurred lines in these two situations. In “King Lear”, Edmund has the choice to remain in his placement in society, or to deceive and conspire to achieve personal gain. He makes the wrong choice, with disastrous results. When you are out in public, you have a choice to pick up the stranger’s five dollars, or give it back to them. You make the right, or just, decision.